Preparation and characterization of activated carbon from corn cob by chemical activation and their adsorption of brilliant green dye from wastewater

Abstract

Activated carbon (AC) is a porous material that is widely employed in a variety of industrial applications. The synthesis of corn cob activated carbon (CCAC) as a potential material for the removal of brilliant green (BG) dye solution is described in this work. We performed the chemical activation of corn cob to prepare high surface area materials with CCAC/H 3 PO 4 impregnation ratios (1:3, and 1:6) at 700 ºC in an N 2 atmosphere, so the obtained materials were labeled as CCAC1 and CCAC2, respectively. The synthesized materials were analyzed by XRD , Raman, FT-IR, FE-SEM with EDS , and BET analysis. The prepared CCAC2 material exhibited better pore formation (0.483 cm 3 /g) and larger surface area (429.63 m 2 /g) and improved the adsorption capacity of the dye. Among the CCAC/H 3 PO 4 materials used in a 1:6 ratio for the adsorbent, the parameters of adsorption time, pH, dose, and dye concentration were evaluated. The results showed that at pH = 5, the adsorption efficiency of 0.100 g/L of CCAC2 removed 99.5–84 % of 50–250 mg/L of BG dye. The adsorption isotherm correlates well with the Langmuir model, and CCAC2 showed an elimination rate of 99.5 % for 50 mg/L BG with a maximum adsorption capacity of 238.09 mg/g. Accordingly, the synthesized CCAC sample can be utilized for the remediation of wastewater from organic pollutants . • Corn cob-like activated carbon is prepared from corn cob by H 3 PO 4 . • The properties characterization of prepared samples was comprehensively analyzed. • Optimization of H 3 PO 4 impregnation ratio to improve surface area. • Langmuir adsorption capacity for adsorption of BG is 238.09 mg/g.